The Ultimatum
by addictedtolove92
Summary: Olivia has a conversation with Nick's ex-wife.
1. Choice

**Summary: Olivia has a conversation with Nick's ex-wife.**

**All mistakes are my very own.**

**The Ultimatum**

Olivia holds the warm cup of coffee sandwiched between her two cold hands. In an attempt to warm herself up, she opts to leave her heavy coat and scarf on but sets her knit hat to the side next to her gloves. It's freezing cold in DC this time of year and even in this café it still feels cold and oddly gusty. She guesses it has something to do with the fact that she's sitting right by the door but as she looks around the only other table available is the one next to the creepy looking guy who's been eyeing her since she first walked in. She doesn't even give a second thought to moving. The further away she is the better.

Out of boredom, Liv starts thumbing through some text messages in her phone in hopes of distracting herself from the situation at hand. As she flips through message after message, it quickly becomes apparent to her that none of the conversations are worth continuing, especially the one with Nick. If she even had half a mind to reply, she's sure she'd convince herself to leave it alone. He'd try to talk her out of it even though she's already in DC, at their agreed upon meeting place waiting to have a conversation with the woman. All he'd do is piss her off more.

And pissed doesn't even come close to what she's feeling at the moment. While she's calmed herself exponentially on the ride down, she still feels the lingering anger and pissed off-ness she felt when Maria stood Zara up a week ago. The little girl has been down in the dumps ever since. Olivia can admit, if this didn't happen almost every single time Maria promised the little girl something, she'd be a bit more understanding. But it's ridiculous. Furthermore, it kills her to see her usually happy and blissful daughter walking around with a frown on her face or red, puffy eyes from hours of crying and asking why her mother wants nothing to do with her. Olivia knows the feeling and she'll do everything in her power to stop one of her own from knowing that pain too.

Olivia looks up from her phone when she hears the scraping of the chair across from her against the floor. As if on cue, her phone starts to vibrate and she knows it's Nick. She presses ignore and stuffs it into the dark recesses of her purse; she'll talk to him later. Maria gives her a tight smile which Olivia returns impossible tenser than the one she received.

"How was your trip up here?" Maria asks quietly.

"Good," Liv answers tersely.

Maria can tell Liv's not too pleased with her and it kills her that it's come to this but her defenses are up and she's mentally readied herself for this fight. It's been years in the making.

"Did you want to get some coffee or something?" Liv asks casting a quick glance at the barista.

"No. I'm okay."

Liv quietly sighs. Her eyes are cast down at her cup and she's still trying to wrap her mind around this whole ordeal. On her drive down and even before that, she convinced herself that it was time for one of them—them being herself or Nick—to put an end to this mess. It's been years and she can't stand what it's doing to Zara. She's definitely let it go on for too long and, yes, she blames herself for some of it. Granted, she'd never really _had _to deal with this sort of situation in her personal life. Honestly, if it hadn't been for Nick, and even his mom, suggesting—strongly—that she leave it alone, she would've done it the moment they said 'I do'.

"This can't just be about Zara, Maria," she began.

She was tired of dancing around the issue and to have a woman to woman, wife to ex-wife, mother to mother conversation.

Maria's brown eyes lock with Liv's. "What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean."

"No, I don't."

Liv sighs again. She was going to make this difficult. "Please don't make this difficult. We need to have this conversation and clear the air before this **really **starts affecting Zara. I know you don't want that."

"Clear the air?" she asks incredulously. "What's to clear? You have my family . . ."

"Excuse me?"

She definitely wasn't expecting that response.

". . . Zara," she begins looking down at her hands, "she loves you. She calls you mom. She wanted to stay with you."

". . . You gave Nick sole custody. You gave up your rights," Liv answers carefully.

"And you just jumped right in and started playing mommy."

Olivia was taken aback. "Is that what this is all about? You're sorry you gave up your rights to your daughter so you're making her and Nick and my family suffer for it?"

"How are you suffering Olivia? You have my daught—"

"Giving up your rights doesn't automatically erase your daughter's feelings for you. She loves you Maria and Nick and I know that . . . We let you back into her life confident that you were going to actually **be **in her life. That you weren't going to waltz in and out whenever you pleased. You keep making her promises and getting her hopes up and then . . . tearing down her spirit when you break them. I won't let you do it anymore."

Maria shakes her head. "You can't stop me from seeing my daughter."

Seeing the pain in her eyes kills Olivia. She can't imagine someone telling her that she could no longer be a part of Stella, Zara, or Sammy's lives. She's sure she'd lose her mind.

". . . When we agreed to let you see Zara again we had an agreement. You made us a promise that you'd keep in touch and call and play a **significant **part in her life. We were willing to be her parents together. You don't see the hurt on her face when you don't show up for her dance recital, you're not there to console her or dry her eyes, to constantly reassure her that her mother—her real mother—loves her. She's 10 years old and she shouldn't know that type of pain."

"What are you saying?" Maria whispers.

". . . I'm giving you a choice . . . Zara has a school play coming up. She's really excited about it and she's been working so hard. It would mean the world to her if you'd come."

"When is it?"

"It's next Friday at her school. I'll text you the information . . . If you don't come—"

With tears in her eyes she replies, "I know."

**To be continued . . . **

**Author's Note: I, in no way, want to make Liv out to be the bad guy . . . but it seems that way, huh? Let me know what you think, how you feel, if you hate it. I'm extra nervous about this one.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, but if I did I'd buy food and eat it all away.**


	2. Decision

_Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews and support. Here's the next chapter!_

**The Ultimatum**

**Decision**

Olivia's life consists of catering to her young children. Ultimately, that means she has to take part in little activities and fulfill duties like chaperoning field trips, being 'helper mom' for the day, or remembering to bring snacks for the class. Her current duty for the moment is helping Zara's classmates with their costumes and whatever else is needed at any given time.

"It didn't look like this last time mom," Zara whines.

Liv sighs. Zara's hair is a thick mass of a never-ending headache. Learning how to do and style it has been a hassle perfected over years of practice. When she finally thinks she has the hang of it, it grows impossibly longer and becomes that much harder to do. And Nick refuses to let her cut it. Apparently it's an 'Amaro' thing.

"I'm doing the very best that I can," Liv replies.

"What if it comes out?"

"It won't."

"How do you know?"

"Because, Zara, I did it a few days ago for you to practice and get a feel of how it would be when you performed and it was just fine."

"But you're doing it wrong, mom," Zara insists.

"I'm doing it the exact same way."

"No you aren't," she counters.

Unyielding brown eyes lock with bold, brown eyes in the mirror the mother-daughter duo is standing before. Liv understands that times like these are stressful for Zara, but there are two things that she does not tolerate from her children; defiance and attitude. She usually tries to stop her daughter's bouts of noncooperation before they become even worse.

Zara looks down, her glare losing some of its previous valor. "Sorry."

"Zara," the teacher calls before Liv can get a word out, "twenty minutes!"

"Okay," she replies.

"Break a leg," Liv says patting the girl on her shoulders.

Zara smiles and quickly wraps her arms around her. "Thanks."

* * *

Olivia takes a seat between Gloria and Nick as her son climbs into her lap. She tells him to be still and quickly scans the auditorium for the face she's been praying she'll see.

"No sign of her yet," Nick informs her.

Liv checks the time on her watch. "She might still make it. There's still time."

". . . I called her Liv. It went straight to voicemail."

Bad sign, Liv thinks as she visibly deflates. That's how it always is with Maria; she's late, they call, straight to voicemail. No matter how many times they call; straight to voicemail.

"You didn't tell her this time did you?" Gloria asks, concern and lingering sadness pervading her voice.

"No," Olivia replies, "but there's always that hope . . ."

Nick stares straight ahead with Stella half on his lap. She can see the anger building in him, can feel it radiating off of him. As she reaches out to grasp his hand her phone vibrates. It surprises her to see Maria's name light up the screen. 'I'm outside' is all it says. Olivia shows the text to Nick who, in response, gently places Stella on his seat and makes his way down the row.

"Where's he going?" Gloria asks as Olivia stands up to follow him.

"Maria's here. We'll be right back."

"No mama," Sammy whines as she hands him to his grandmother.

"I'll be right back Sammy."

"Hurry back," Gloria warns her.

"We will."

Liv follows her husband's path out of the crowded auditorium. When she steps outside she looks around and finds the two of them by Maria's car engaged in a heated argument.

"We let you back into our daughter's life despite the fact that **you** gave up custody, Maria! We trusted you and then you walked all over her! How do you think that makes her feel?" she hears Nick yell at Maria.

"I am sorry, okay! But I'm here now."

"But what about those times when you weren't?"

"I already had this conversation with your wife. I don't need to have it again."

"Yes, you do. Because I can't understand why you're so damn selfish! It's always all about you, even when we were together; you were always playing the victim. But guess what, this time our daughter is the victim. You're hurting her."

Olivia stands beside Nick and grabs his arm trying to get him to calm down.

"Nick," Olivia calls.

"You're here now," he continues, ignoring Olivia, "but what about Zara's recital last month? You talked to her on the phone and promised her that you would be there. How about last year when she ended up in the hospital and you swore you'd come? We sat and watched her **look **for you, _ask _for you, and you never came, never called, never showed. And what about the other times you broke your promises to her? How about the promises I know you're gonna break in the future . . . Damn it, Maria, I'm sick of making excuses for you! I'm tired of watching my kid cry her eyes out because of you!"

"Nick," Liv tries again.

Nick sighs and looks from Olivia to Maria. ". . . If you don't think you can do this . . . If you can't be a mother to Zara; then love her enough to leave her alone," he practically pleads with her. "Because walking in and out of her life at your own volition is not going to work."

Olivia stares at Nick and gets just how serious he is. He grabs her hand and they're both praying that, by some miracle, Maria becomes a parent and chooses to stay in Zara's life, both knowing that that's not how it works. And it hurts like hell to think that this time, it's their little girl that will suffer in the long run. It's gonna take a lot of time and patience and parenting on Olivia's part to make the little girl fill secure again, to make sure she knows that she's just as much her child as Stella and Sammy, that blood couldn't make Olivia love her more. But she's up for the challenge.

For a while, Maria just stares at the two of them and for a while, she stares at her hands. After a long silence, she pulls something out of her coat pocket; a white envelope with Zara's name on it. She looks up with red, tearful eyes; her decision already made, and looks at Olivia.

". . . Give this to Zara for me?"

Olivia takes the letter from her.

"I love my daughter," she says. "Tell her I'm sorry."

With that, Maria climbs into her car, revs up the engine, and pulls off.

**To be continued . . . **

_I don't think I've ever written a story so fast. Hahaha!_

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, I promise!**


	3. Epilogue

_Author's Note: Thank you guys so much for your support, it just encourages me to write more and more. You all are so awesome! Here's the next and final chapter. Enjoy!_

**The Ultimatum**

**Epilogue**

Zara is okay. It's been three months and she's dealing with her mother's abandonment with her family there to support her. Nick thinks it's because Liv's always made her feel like one of her own. She gives her the same amount of hugs and kisses as she does the little kids, she never lets Zara doubt her love for her, and she's never given Zara a reason to think she'd leave. Zara needs that kind of stability in her life.

Olivia is an exceptional mother. She's kind and patient, loving and caring; she has a huge heart. Nick chuckles; she's even mastered the art of cooking. She's really come a long way in that area, thank God. You kind of get tired of pasta after so many months—no matter the different variations—but he never had the guts to let her in on that tidbit of information. He was glad when she eventually took it upon herself to start trying out new things. Granted, her dishes didn't _all _come out that well on her first try—or sometimes her second—but they got better with time. And now? After 5 years of marriage his wife is a pretty great cook.

". . . Night light?" Liv asks Zara as Nick peeks into her brightly decorated bedroom.

Zara shakes her head and snuggles down into her pink comforter. Olivia sits down at the edge of the bed and smoothes back some of Zara's soft curls.

"I'm excited about tomorrow," Zara says tiredly turning on her side facing her mother.

Olivia smiles, "So am I."

Liv pulls her comforter up some more so that the top of her shoulders are covered. She leans down and places a soft kiss on the little girl's forehead. "Goodnight sweetie."

"G'night," Zara yawns.

Olivia gives her one last smile, makes her way to the door and reaches for the light switch.

"Mommy?" Zara calls stopping her in her tracks.

"Yea?"

"Love you."

"I love you too," she smiles then switches off the light.

She's not surprised when she finds her husband ducked off to the side of the door playing like he hadn't been listening in on the two of them.

"Did you get your son cleaned up?" Olivia asks wandering past him toward their bedroom door.

Nick chuckles. "He is squeaky clean."

"And did you clean up his mess?"

". . . You know I'm not one of the kids right?" he asks a smile playing on his lips.

Liv throws him a look over her shoulder. "Could've had me fooled, Amaro."

"What does that mean, _Benson_?"

"It means that sometimes your actions are . . . more child-like than what they're supposed to be," she replies pulling off her socks.

"Explain."

"Who left **open **finger paint on the table?"

Nick rolls his eyes.

"Exactly. Sammy is drawn to stuff like that. He sees it and it's in his reach? It's open season. I shouldn't **have **to tell you this; you have two other kids."

He snorts. "Not one like Sammy."

"Sammy's a little boy," she replies settling onto their bed.

Nick reaches over and playfully pulls a lock of Liv's long hair. "Why am I the one getting fussed at? I didn't cover myself in paint."

"Yes," she replies laying her head on his chest and draping an arm over his waist, "but you're the adult. You should know better than to leave a 3 year old unaccompanied with something like paint in his sight. Sammy's just being a boy, there's only so much I can fuss at him about."

"So **I **get the brunt of it."

Olivia smiles and presses a soft kiss to his chest. "Yes."

Liv snuggles closer into Nick and drapes her leg over his. She allows her eyes to close and lets the feel-good sensations of Nick's hand running through her hair take over. It's a while before either one of them says anything.

". . . So," Nick begins, "I've been thinking . . . "

Olivia lets her nails lightly scratch Nick's side in a steady motion. "Mmmm?"

Nick's been thinking a lot about this, truth be told. He's been thinking about it since they first got married. It was one of his first thoughts when Maria gave him sole custody of Zara but he never really acted on it. He doesn't know why because, knowing Liv, she would've been thrilled. She would've, without a second's apprehension, said yes. But he didn't want to put that burden on her. At the time, they had just found out that Liv was pregnant with Stella and their relationship wasn't all that great. But still, even then he knew she'd be his wife.

"I've been thinking a lot, actually . . ."

Liv opens her eyes and looks up at him with concern. He feels her nails stop its light scratches against his skin and looks back at her. She can practically hear the wheels spinning in his head; she always could. She wonders what he's been thinking so much about that has him so uneasy. She gives his arm a light squeeze.

"What is it Nick?" she asks softly.

His hand cups her cheek and his thumb lightly dances against it. He angles his head down and captures her mouth in a gentle, earth-shattering kiss. Moments later he presses his forehead against hers and while a small smile is on her lips, the concern still lingers.

"I love you," he says.

"I love you too."

". . . You're Zara's mother; in every way that counts and I want it to be official. I know it's only a piece of paper and it doesn't matter to you, but it does to me and it does to Zara. I want you to adopt her."

Olivia's smile gets impossibly wider and her eyes shine with tears. "You know I will."

This marks a milestone in their marriage, in their family. They're closer than they've ever been, more in love than they ever thought possible. Tonight is a true testament of their still growing friendship.

Nick doesn't think he can ever forgive Maria for leaving their daughter again. And he's sure that Liv will never agree to letting Maria see her again; atleast not in the near future. Maybe when Zara's older, possibly 6-8 years down the line when the little girl is much more mature and can better handle situations such as the one she was faced with all those months ago. Liv guesses that her guard will always be up with Maria, that the trust in that relationship most likely won't exist for quite some time after they've re-established something that resembles a relationship. She's not stupid. She knows that after a while, Zara's going to want answers; answers that she or Nick will never be able to answer for her. She'll have to go straight to the source. But it's up to Liv. . . and Nick to make sure she's ready for it. Perhaps maybe they'll be a time when, instead of **them** giving Maria an ultimatum . . . Zara will.

**The End**

_Thanks again for reading guys! It's been such a great—but short—ride. Maybe I'll make a sequel to this story; you know, years down the line, Zara's older, wants answers from her mother, blah, blah, blah. I'm actually pretty certain that I will. Until then, be on the look out! Much love!_

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything but a TV and the clothes on my back . . . and a computer.**


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